The National Union of Romanian Hauliers (UNTRR) welcomes the political agreement reached regarding the enlargement of the Schengen Area with Romania and Bulgaria's air and sea borders starting from March 2024, but calls on Romanian and European authorities to also establish a clear date for the enforcement of the Schengen visa-free rules for land borders as well, starting in 2024."Schengen accession is an important and much-awaited step by Romanian passengers and transport operators, which should have been achieved as early as in 2011, when the European institutions found that Romania meets all the technical requirements for admission. Given that all passenger data are at the disposal of air transport operators, the enlargement of the Schengen Area with Romania's air borders could have been accomplished a long time ago. There is obviously no justification of a technical nature for the delay, the reasons are political, the members of the EU club have chosen to punish Romania and Bulgaria and reduce their competitiveness all this time, curbing their development potential. Yet now, Romania's joining the Schengen with the land borders is an emergency for road freight carriers whose efficiency is currently severely penalized through the extremely long waiting times (about 30 - 36 hours daily between Romania and Bulgaria) and for coach operators, in order to avoid the significant administrative burden arising from the new obligations of verifying passenger data in the European EES and ETIAS travel registration and authorization systems starting from next year," UNTRR secretary general Radu Dinescu said, as cited in a release of the organization.According to a report conducted by UNTRR this year on the impact on road freight of Romania being kept out of Schengen, the industry incurred losses of 2.41 billion euros."We request the urgent setting of a definite date for Romania's Schengen entry with land borders too, and if there are certain special requirements, they should be clearly mentioned in order to have a precise reference regarding the accession calendar and the goals to be achieved. The criteria the other members of the EU club want Romania and Bulgaria to fulfill must not exceed the general framework and the technical requirements for admission," said Dinescu.UNTRR representatives point out that the road transport industry, which with 7.66 billion euros in 2022 is Romania's largest exporter of services, is the economic branch most affected by Romania being kept out of Schengen.
Hungarian state-owned company MVM expects to complete its acquisition of the majority stake in E.ON Energie Romania's gas and electricity supply division by June or July, CEO Karoly Matrai told Portfolio.hu, as reported by Reuters. The official also said that MVM does not intend to sell the companies it plans to acquire in Romania and […]
Tudor Platon’s An Almost Perfect Family and Radu Ciorniciuc and Lina Vdovîi’s Dad will be screened at this year’s DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival. An Almost Perfect Family, produced by Carla Fotea / MicroFILM, was selected in the International Competition of the festival. The documentary Dad will be screened as part of the event’s […]
"The Romanian pet food market is larger than our domestic market in Ukraine. It shows significant potential and is growing steadily, with an average annual growth rate (CAGR) of 7%," states Yuriy Bykoriz, Managing Director CEE, Kormotech Global. Kormotech, a family-owned global pet food company with Ukrainian roots, has been producing food for cats and […]
Romania's e-commerce sector accounted for 3.32% of the country's GDP in 2024, showing steady growth but still trailing behind the European average of around 5%, according to data from the Bulgarian eCommerce Association. In Central and Eastern Europe, Greece leads the region with e-commerce contributing 7.87% to its GDP, while Bulgaria lags behind with just […]
Promotional products were twice as present in shopping carts in 2024. Healthier choices: Nearly half of Bringo orders included organic products. Less sugar: +20% increase in sugar-free products in Bringo carts. Bringo, the first rapid online grocery delivery service in Romania using personal shoppers, has analyzed key trends shaping eGroceries consumption...
One United Properties (BVB: ONE), the leading Romanian green developer of residential, mixed-use, and office properties, reports total sales and pre-sales of EUR 227.8 million in 2024, corresponding to the surface of 83,958 sqm of residential and commercial spaces sold and...
